Bears Get A Viking Funeral

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 7, 1998 / 12:10 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

Take away all the key players you want from the Minnesota Vikings' offense. Just leave them Randall Cunningham and Randy Moss, and they'll be just fine.

At least they were Sunday night.

With a pregame injury sending Cris Carter to the sidelines to join three other ailing offensive starters, Cunningham threw three touchdown passes to Moss for the second consecutive game as the Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 48-22 to clinch their first NFC Central title since 1994. ,

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The Vikings (12-1) outgained the Bears 341-14 on the way to a 27-0 halftime lead, guaranteeing themselves a first-round playoff bye, the first time it has earned that during coach Dennis Green's seven seasons.

Moss, the electrifying rookie who burned Dallas for 163 yards and three TDs on Thanksgiving, caught scoring passes of 6, 3 and 34 yards against the overmatched Bears (3-10), who lost their fifth in a row.

That gave Moss an NFL-best 14 TD catches, breaking the league rookie mark of 13 set by Green Bay's Bill Howton in 1952 and matched by San Diego's John Jefferson in 1979.

Cunningham, who has started all but two games this season because of injuries to Brad Johnson, threw four TD passes for the second consecutive game and the fourth time this season, a team record. One of them went to running back Leroy Hoard, who was subbing for the injured Robert Smith. Hoard scored twice, giving him 10 TDs for the season, second on the team behind Moss.

Randy Moss hauls in one of his three touchdowns on the night. (AP)

Cunningham finished 21-for-31 for 349 yards and one interception.

Dwayne Rudd added a team-record 94-yard TD on a fumble return in the fourth quarter as the Vikings set a team season scoring record of 442 points, surpassing their 412 points in 1995. Minnesota also used its highest scoring game since 1988 to move past Denver (436) for the NFL scoring lead.

Bobby Engram led Chicago with a career-best nine catches for 140 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.

Although Chicago has struggled in recent years and the Vikings have been a perennial playoff team (1995 is the only year they have failed to qualify under Green), the series has been remarkably even.

Minnesota had won just five of the last nine games, none of them by more than a touchdown, and the Vikings' 31-28 decision at Soldier Field on Sept. 27 was their smallest victory margin of the season.

But this one was over early, even with Johnson, Jake Reed and Smith out of the lineup and Carter reduced to only the game's first play because of a strained right calf sustained in warmups.

Moe Williams went 64 yards with a screen pass on the game's first play -- and Williams' last because of a foot injury -- to set up Cunningham's 6-yard pass to Moss. Hoard's first TD catch in 2 ½ seasons with the Vikings, a 24-yarder, made it 14-0.

Moss' 3-yard TD catch came with 18 seconds left in the first half and made it 27-0. After Engram beat Jimmy Hitchcock for the Bears' first score, Moss' 34-yarder made it 34-14 with 12:14 left in the third quarter.